RMA wants to keep municipal politics non-partisan [Video]

Paul McLauchlin, president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, discusses provincial funding and changes to municipal governance with Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michael Higgins: Let’s start on this infrastructure grant program. Given the population parameters, how much of this $20 million-a-year over three years do you expect to trickle down or make an impact in rural municipalities?

Paul McLauchlin: I commend the government for looking at this. Eighty thousand people a year are moving to Calgary, 180,000 moving to all of Alberta, so definitely, there’s pressures.

And growth takes two forms, it’s population growth, but also that corporate, commercial and industrial investment.

So these dollars going into that infrastructure pot could be beneficial to them, and many of the members I represent which are the bedroom communities around the two big metros and the other cities as well.

MH:Do you see your members submitting applications, maybe getting access to this $20 million-a-year …